Beijing reaches out to Seoul on revitalizing ties

THAAD:：Relations have been strained by Seoul’s hosting of the US system, but Xi Jinping appears willing to work with South Korea’s new president

Reuters, BEIJING

Sat, May 20, 2017 - Page 6

China wants to put ties with South Korea back on a “normal track,” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) said yesterday, while urging Seoul to respect its concerns and resolve tensions over the deployment of a US anti-missile system.

Relations between Beijing and Seoul, strained by disagreement over South Korea’s hosting of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, have taken on a more conciliatory tone with the election earlier this month of South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Xi told Moon’s envoy, Lee Hae-chan, that his visit showed the importance the new South Korean leader attached to relations with Beijing.

“China, too, pays great attention to the bilateral ties,” Xi said in comments in front of reporters in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

“We’re willing to work with South Korea to preserve the hard-won results, properly handle disputes, put China-South Korea relations back onto a normal track, and benefit both peoples on the basis of mutual understanding and mutual respect,” he said.

Lee gave Xi a handwritten letter from the South Korean president, who easily won the election earlier this month to replace Park Geun-hye, who was ousted in a corruption scandal.

“President Moon said he hopes I’d also pass on his gratitude to you for your message of congratulation and the telephone call after he was elected,” Lee said, before reporters were asked to leave the room.

According to Xinhua news agency, Xi told Lee: “China is willing to strengthen communication with the new South Korean government ... [and] continue to push for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

In a separate meeting with Lee, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) said Beijing “hopes that South Korea can respect China’s major concerns [and] appropriately resolve the THAAD issue,” Xinhua reported.

China has been infuriated by the US deployment of the THAAD system in South Korea, saying it is a threat to its security and would do nothing to ease tensions with Pyongyang.

The US and South Korea have said the deployment is aimed purely at defending against any threat from North Korea, which experts have thought for months is preparing for its sixth nuclear test in defiance of UN sanctions.

South Korea has complained that some of its companies doing business in China have faced discrimination in retaliation for the THAAD deployment.

However, Xi’s comments helped push up the shares of several South Korean companies that rely on the spending of Chinese tourists, whose visits have fallen sharply amid the THAAD dispute.

The North has vowed to develop a missile mounted with a nuclear warhead that can strike the mainland US, saying the program is necessary to counter US aggression.

The threat from Pyongyang presents US President Donald Trump with one of his greatest security challenges.

The US, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea to guard against the North Korean threat, has called on China to do more to rein in its ally and neighbor. Trump and Moon have also warned that a major conflict with the North is possible.

Moon sent envoys to the US, China, Japan and the EU this week in what the government calls “pre-emptive diplomacy.” His envoy for Russia is to leave next week.

Before leaving Seoul for Beijing, Lee said Moon could meet Xi as early as July at a G20 summit in Germany, while a separate meeting could also be possible in August.